


The Crossroads Child

by alcyonenight



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Beta/Omega, F/F, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-31
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 09:47:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24468976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcyonenight/pseuds/alcyonenight
Summary: Omega princess Mina has lived a comfortable, maybe even pampered, life--and then in a single day everything changed. Now, all that she has is her beta servants, her mother's ring, a desperate hope that alpha queen Park Jihyo will accept an old arranged marriage to a princess whose home nation no longer exists... and an ancient custom of her people demanding that she bears the child of one of her servants so that her womb is full if an enemy takes her.
Relationships: Hirai Momo/Minatozaki Sana, Minatozaki Sana/Myoui Mina, Myoui Mina/Park Jisoo | Jihyo
Comments: 11
Kudos: 125





	1. The Palace

Mina hummed softly as her mother ran the brush through her hair. “Ninety-six, ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred,” she counted, as the strokes slowed to a stop.

“You’re beautiful, my daughter,” the Queen said. “That alpha--Park Jihyo--is getting the bargain of her life.”

“Do you know what it’s like, in Goryeoha?” Mina asked. 

“I have only visited, when you were small and your father was still alive, to arrange your marriage,” the Queen said. “Their customs are very different from ours. But everyone I met was very kind, and the land was beautiful. And an alpha-omega match is always fortuitous.”

“I will do my utmost to be a good representative of Hinomoto,” Mina said.

“I know you will, my precious one, and I know you will succeed. You have always been a clever girl. Will you write to your mother?”

“Every month,” Mina said firmly. “Whether I receive a letter or not.”

The Queen gently ran a soft hand over Mina’s head. “I will await them with baited breath.” She smiled. “Go on to bed, my daughter. Rest well.”

“Rest well,” Mina replied, and rose to her feet. She bowed to her mother and stepped lightly out of the Queen’s personal chambers.

Waiting for her in the hallway were both of the servants that were personally assigned to Mina instead of simply being members of the household: Momo, her bodyguard, and Sana, her handmaiden. Mina smiled at them, and they bowed slightly to her.

“We’re going to bed,” Mina told them, and led them down the hall to her own bedchambers.

“Oh, good,” Sana said. “I can’t wait to get out of this kimono.”

“I can’t wait to get you out of that kimono,” Momo said, and giggled.

“Momo,” Sana complained. “That’s inappropriate.”

Momo and Sana were widely considered the most handsome beta women working in the Palace, and Mina suspected that was why they had been assigned to her. They’d known each other several years before that, though, members of closely-related minor noble houses that were raised to service together. They had a deep bond that, in her heart of hearts, Mina envied. 

Maybe she would be this close to Park Jihyo. Her alpha mother and her omega father had been an arranged marriage, after all, and the Queen told Mina stories all the time about how deeply she and Mina’s father had fallen in love.

Mina stepped into her bedroom. It was sparse, containing only her clothing, her futon, and her servants’ clothing and futons--everything else that she needed could be found somewhere within the Palace. Sana stepped ahead of her as soon as they reached the doorway, making a beeline for the closet to pull out Mina’s nightclothing. Momo pulled the door closed and started setting out the futons.

“I do have the capacity to do that myself,” Mina said, reaching down to start removing her obi. “I’m not helpless.”

It was an old argument with all the edges worn off. “I don’t want to wait longer to go to bed,” Momo said. 

Sana returned to Mina’s side, taking each piece of her obi from her. “We don’t think you’re helpless,” she said. “But you are wearing eight layers.”

“Seven,” Mina argued as Sana neatly folded the fabric.

“Underwear counts,” Momo said casually. She had already finished laying out the futons, and was kneeling next to the door waiting for her turn to undress.

“Arms out,” Sana said.

“Who says you can order me around?” Mina teased, holding her arms in the requested position.

“Momo,” Sana replied, giggling. “And Momo, could you please hang this up?”

“All right, all right,” Momo complained, and joined in the process.

Eventually, they were all dressed for sleep. Mina slept in the middle futon, because Sana and Momo had to be broken up or they’d whisper to each other for hours. Momo, befitting her job as bodyguard, lay down nearest to the door.

“Good night,” Mina whispered.

“Good night,” Momo and Sana replied.

And they fell asleep, unaware that everything was about to change.

* * *

Mina jolted awake to heavy pounding on the door.

“Your Highness!” someone called, a servant, a voice that was familiar but that she couldn’t put a name to. “Her Majesty has requested your presence in her quarters, immediately!”

Mina blinked heavily. The first pink rays of dawn were just filtering through the window. Something was very wrong. She shook sleep off her and watched Momo and Sana do the same. 

“Immediately!” the servant emphasized. 

In only their nightclothing, the three of them scampered through the door. Mina wondered briefly if she was in trouble--but her mother wasn’t like that, and besides, she couldn’t think of anything she had done to invoke displeasure.

The servant led them down the hallway and guided them into the Queen’s rooms. The room was crowded with people, all of them clearly roused from sleep very recently, talking loudly. The Queen herself was in discussion with her military advisor, but as soon as she saw Mina come into the room she stopped and crossed over to meet her.

“Mina,” the Queen said. “My daughter.” 

“Is it the war?” Mina asked softly.

“Yes,” the Queen replied. “The Wajin are here. I do not know how it could be, but their army has marched almost to our doors. We suspect that in a few hours they will begin their attack.”

Mina stared. “But- the last intelligence we had of them said that they were so far away.”

“They are camped less than a league from here,” the Queen said. “We are lucky to have discovered them. The fighting has already started.” She paused. It was rare that Mina’s mother was unsure of what she had to say, and Mina felt terror rising in her throat. “My precious child. My daughter. You and your servants must flee.”

Mina froze entirely. “Mother- your Majesty-”

“Take my ring,” the Queen continued, and slipped the piece of jewelry from her finger. “This will serve as proof of your identity. Go south from the Palace. Hirai-san has good instincts and the fighting will be to the north; you’ll avoid the battle that way. If we fall-”

“Mother-”

“If we fall,” the Queen continued, “escape Hinomoto. It will no longer be safe for you here. Go to Goryeoha and Park Jihyo. She is an honorable alpha; presented with my ring, she will allow you to remain in her court at the very least.” She hesitated again. “And you must- with one of your servants, you must follow our customs. The army will kill me. They will do worse to you, if they can.”

“Mother,” Mina breathed helplessly.

“Three days,” the Queen said. “In three days, it will be clear whether we will fall. Maybe next week we will be drinking tea in the sun together, laughing. But you must go.” She pressed the ring into Mina’s hand. “Hinomoto goes with you.”

Mina swallowed and bowed. “Yes, your Majesty,” she said, and it would be a lie to say that she was not trembling. 

“My precious daughter,” said Mina’s mother, gentle. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Mina said.

“Now go,” the Queen said, stern, and turned to speak to her military advisor again.

* * *

There were a few minutes to prepare, so they took them. Each of them changed into a servant’s uniform. Mina slipped the ring onto a cord and tied it around her neck to hide under her clothing. They took some of Mina’s jewelry to sell, sliding it into their pockets. Momo made sure her sword was secure against her body. Then they rushed to the south exit.

Sana had to help Mina into her shoes, because Mina was shaking so hard.

Momo, on the other hand, was sharply focused. Mina had never seen her like this before, and watched her bodyguard take in their surroundings.

“I know somewhere in the woods that we can hide,” Momo told them softly. “We’ll need to run, and we’ll need to be quiet.”

Mina nodded. “We’ll do it.”

Sana took one of her hands, and Momo took the other, and they started running.

Mina knew it was better not to look back. She kept her eyes forward.

They ran through the gardens, through thick grass, to a worn little trail in the forest that Momo explained was used by deer going to the nearby brook for water. They, too, followed the trail to the brook, and then Momo stepped directly into the water, soaking her feet and pulling Mina hard enough she almost fell into the cold water.

“Momo, what are we doing?” Sana asked now that they were at a stop.

“We won’t leave tracks,” Momo said. “They won’t be able to tell where we went as long as we stay in the water.” She squeezed Mina’s hand. “Come on, this way.”

Trudging through the water kept them from being able to run, but that was all right with Mina. She was a talented dancer and practiced every day, but she didn’t have the kind of stamina that let her run forever the way that Momo could. Still holding hands, the three of them continued upstream, roughly southeast. Mina could feel her feet going numb, and water was creeping up from the bottom of her kimono. She grit her teeth and tried to ignore it.

Fifteen minutes through the water, Momo guided them out of the water onto another game trail. “Almost there,” she said encouragingly.

Mina tried to smile.

They walked again, but only for a few minutes, just as Momo had promised. At the end of the game trail was an outcropping of rock. Momo pointed at it, and Mina and Sana glanced at it, then back at her.

“Momo,” Sana said. “That’s just a bunch of rocks.”

“That’s why you never won at hide and seek,” Momo replied, clearly proud of herself despite trying to keep her voice low. “You can crawl through there. I’ve done it before. There’s a little cave.”

“We’ll ruin our kimonos,” Sana said.

“Our kimonos are already ruined,” Mina said. “Momo, show us.”

For the first time since they left the palace, Momo let go of Mina’s hand, and Mina had just enough time to feel a strange sort of loss before she had to pay attention to what Momo was doing: crouching down to her hands and knees and crawling between a pair of stones.

“Come on,” Momo called, slightly muffled.

Mina and Sana glanced at each other. Sana shrugged.

Mina mentally apologized to the kimono and bent down, crawling into the space she’d watched Momo enter. 

It wasn’t as dark and cramped as Mina had imagined, once she was inside. A little light filtered in from above, enough that once her eyes adjusted, she could see. And there was enough space that once she was fully inside, she could sit up straight, and they would be able to lay down to sleep here if they were willing to stay close together. It was a perfect hiding place.

“I found this when I was a kid,” Momo said as Sana crawled inside. “I used to hate comportment lessons so much, so I tried to run away.”

“Seven times,” Sana added, sitting herself.

“Eight,” Momo said. “It’s a lot easier to tell you can get in here if you’re closer to the ground. Papa could track me because I didn’t know anything about disguising my trail. He would stomp around these rocks but he’d never find me. But then I’d get hungry and go home.”

“We didn’t bring any food,” Sana muttered.

“We can go without for a few days,” Mina said. “We’ll be fine.”

It felt like it really would be fine. Mina imagined it: staying there for a few days, playing ayatori and hand games, sleeping huddled together, and in three days the fighting would certainly be over. Mother would be wrong, of course, and they would have won easily, and they’d sit in the gardens and drink tea.

It was not like that at all.

* * *

Mina was not used to skipping meals. She ate lightly most of the time, but always ate meals at the correct times. At worst, if she was sick, she would miss meals, but then she wouldn’t be hungry anyway.

Mina was hungry. She had been hungry since morning, when they had run into the woods instead of eating breakfast. Now, after hours of playing ayatori with Sana’s obi, round after round of shiritori, and gambling with jan-ken and pebbles they found within the cavern, the sun was only just setting, and she was hungry.

Mina didn’t complain. She had been raised better than that, and it wasn’t anyone’s fault--well, perhaps it was everyone’s fault for forgetting to bring food with them. But there was nothing to be done about it now. Not even Momo knew enough to say what plants in the forest a human could eat, and it had only been one day.

Still, she was hungry, and she was bored, and beneath those two feelings she was very, very scared. Mother would not have sent them away unless she thought the circumstances were truly dire. 

“Mina,” Momo said. “Look.” Sana and Momo were playing ayatori again, and had probably either managed a complicated figure or a huge tangle they thought was funny.

Except- no, Momo’s voice was more serious than that. She was pointing up through the roof of their little shelter.

Mina didn’t know what she was supposed to be seeing, at first, just the evening sky slowly turning to night under a thin layer of clouds. Then she realized it wasn’t clouds that she was seeing.

It was smoke. Smoke that billowed on and on, from the north--the palace.


	2. Kannon

“It’s too dangerous,” Mina whispered, huddled close against Sana in the cavern.

“We need to know what’s going on,” Momo replied just as quietly. “What if the forest goes up in flames? We can’t stay here if that’s what’s happening.”

“What if they’re in the forest looking for us?” Sana murmured. “We could lead them right back here and not know until it’s too late.”

Momo and Sana both looked at Mina, and Mina realized far belatedly that when it came to big decisions like this, she was obviously in charge. She fiddled with the fabric on her kimono and thought. 

“We’ll take turns keeping watch without leaving this cavern,” Mina told them. “The other two of us will try to sleep. We’re not experienced with the woods, so running in the middle of the night would be too much of a risk unless we have to. There are wild animals to worry about, and they’ll be able to see better than we will.”

“Understood,” Momo said, though she didn’t seem happy about it. “Who’s watching when, then?”

Mina took the first watch for herself. She was no stranger to staying up late, though usually she did it reading by candlelight or practicing her dancing. They agreed on how high in the sky the moon should be when she woke Sana, and she crawled out almost to the opening of their hiding spot.

The very first problem was that it was impossible to sit up at the mouth of the crevasse. She ended up laying on her stomach, head propped on her arms, feeling every lump in the hard dirt below her. 

The next problem was that the forest was full of tiny noises that kept Mina anxious. She assumed that just a mouse would be enough to break a twig, but what if it was a wolf, or worse, a person searching for them in stealth?

The smoke continued to billow, too, or at least Mina assumed it did and that it wasn’t cloud cover. There was no crackling wood to suggest that it was drawing near, no roar of flame, but Mina knew that could change at any moment.

And of course there was a problem even worse than the rest, although Mina was doing her best to keep it from her mind: the faint pulse at her womb that told her a heat was coming soon. She reminded herself that it could be days, that all of this could be over by the time it finally arrived, but that was starting to ring hollow.

Mina felt tears welling up in her eyes. She tried to blink them away. She needed to be able to see, to keep watch. 

It was so dark and she was so scared. But if she missed something, all three of them could die. This was her idea. She had to get it right.

The tears kept threatening to pour over. She ducked down a little to swipe her face on the filthy kimono sleeve.

What were they going to do if someone was looking for them, anyway? She’d have to back away from the entrance to keep them from seeing a face, right? They could be carrying torches.

If they’re looking for her at all. If they’re looking for her, then they know she escaped the palace, and if they know she escaped the palace, that would mean they had captured it.

The palace was burning. It was the only plausible reason there would be fire that wasn’t spreading into the woods.

Mother was dead.

Mina choked a sob into her fist. She couldn’t afford a breakdown. She had to keep it together, at least until Sana could take her turn. And she had to be quiet.

The night dragged on, taking its time, without regard for Mina’s struggles.

It was a relief to wake Sana for her turn on watch, and even more of a relief that Sana couldn’t see Mina’s tear-streaked face in the dark. But Mina didn’t fall asleep. The ground was too hard, with pebbles jamming into her back. She could still hear every sound that she could hear before when she was watching, only now she had even less of an idea of the source. And there wasn’t any task to keep her thoughts from running wild.

Mother was dead. Mother was dead, and the palace was burning. Home was gone. She was going to go into heat in the woods somewhere. They didn’t even have any food, and their kimonos were filthy. How were they going to survive long enough to reach Goryeoha? 

They--but Momo and Sana could probably make it if they left her behind. Mina was the danger for them. Alone, they would just be fleeing servants, not any kind of important target. She was the one that would be hunted.

Mina spent the night with dark thoughts like those. She thought them all through Sana’s shift at the front of the cavern, and through Momo’s turn, and until dawn’s pink light peered into their shelter.

* * *

“I won’t judge you if you leave me,” Mina told them. “They’re not looking for betas. You’ll have to start over, but you’ll survive.”

Without looking at each other, Sana and Momo shook their heads. “Of course we’re not leaving you,” Sana said. “We love you. Not like, in a romantic sense, but we love you.”

“What she said,” Momo agreed. “Now shouldn’t we be coming up with a plan to get out of here? We can’t stay here forever.”

Mina took a deep breath. “Are you sure you want to stay with me?”

“We’re sure,” Sana and Momo chorused. 

Momo smiled a little. “We’re with you all the way. Let’s get started, okay?”

“Okay,” Mina said, wiping away a stray tear. “We need food and water, first.”

“We’ll blend in much better if we aren’t wearing Hinomoto servants’ uniforms,” Sana said. “So we should try to get something else to wear.”

“We’re about a day’s walk from the nearest village,” Momo said. “We can buy food there. For water… I think Papa said that running water is usually safe to drink if you can’t get well water.” 

Sana looked at Mina, but Mina didn’t understand what the look meant. “We should go as soon as possible,” Sana said. “News may not have spread yet. It’ll be better if it hasn’t.”

“That’s very smart,” Momo said, and looked at Mina too. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Mina lied. It was time to leave, whether she was ready or not. “Let’s hurry.”

* * *

Going through the woods was awful and terrifying. Mina had never been so deep into a forest, and even its scent is unfamiliar. Every noise aside from their ruined shoes on the ground could have been something that aimed to kill them. There was no running water for a long time, and they were hungry and thirsty, and it was difficult to move through the underbrush. She wondered if they really were going to reach the next village by the end of the day. It felt like they’re traveling awfully slowly.

The morning was greatly improved, though, when they stumbled past a few trees only to spot a doe and her fawn sipping clear water from a stream.

Mina smiled a little. They stopped a few moments to watch, until the deer noticed them and fled into the woods. Then they got a drink of water, the first they’d had in quite some time.

Of course, the moment of joy didn’t last forever. They had to keep moving through the wood. 

“Should we really be going for a village?” Mina asked. “That would be the obvious place to go. They might take the road and wait for us there.”

Momo nodded. “We’ll hide you away, then Sana and I will go into town,” she said. “Or maybe we’ll just send Sana.”

“Just you,” Sana argued. “It’s like- Anyway. You have good instincts, and you can carry more.”

“Mina?” Momo asked, turning to look.

“I think both of you should go,” Mina said. “That way it will be longer before we have to buy more supplies. Then you’ll leave the village from a random direction and circle around to get me.”

“How will you know it’s us?” Sana asked, tilting her head a little.

Mina tried to smile. “I’ll trust you to be the only ones to know my hiding spot.”

* * *

The sun was close to setting again by the time that they could see the village: light shone through the trees from the front instead of above. They backtracked for a few minutes, making sure that they were far enough away. Then they searched for a hiding place for Mina. Momo found a hollow tree, and Mina sighed at the uncomfortable space before she crouched down to sit inside.

“You should stay at an inn or something overnight if you can,” Mina told them. “I can wait.” She could. She was as safe there as she would be anywhere. It was more uncomfortable than the cavern, but she hadn’t said that she was going to sleep.

“We’re going to try to buy our supplies quickly,” Sana replied.

“Do you have enough money?” Mina asked. She reached into her pockets and found the pouch she had stashed some jewelry inside. Then she opened the pouch and took out a gold-plated hairpin. She looked at it with a little longing and then put it into Sana’s hand. 

“Are you sure you want to part with this?” Sana asked.

“I’m sure,” Mina said, even though she didn’t want to part with it at all. “Get something good.”

Sana and Momo left, chatting with each other softly, and Mina waited. She was exhausted from the day’s travel, especially when she hadn’t slept the night before. So while she knew it was even more important to be alert now, she found herself nodding off. Eventually she gave in to the impulse, drawing her head to her chest and putting her head in her arms. 

Mina dozed, losing track of time, until she felt something on her shoulder. She jolted awake, even more startled to see it was a person, until she realized it was Sana.

“We’re back,” Sana whispered unnecessarily.

“You’re back,” Mina whispered. She carefully worked her way out. “What did you buy?”

“Pilgrim’s clothes,” Sana said. “Four sets, so they’d think we were buying two sets for ourselves instead of one for someone who wasn’t there.” She plunked a sugegasa onto Mina’s head. “We’re walking the Hinomoto 100 Kannon.”

“That will get us to the docks in Hakata, in a roundabout sort of way,” Momo said. “Sana came up with it.”

“That’s brilliant,” Mina said. “Do we have the rest of the supplies, too?”

“Of course,” Sana said. “We bought the whole kit, enough for all of us. They didn’t seem to think it was strange for someone to start here.”

Mina got to her feet and wrapped her arms around Momo and Sana. “I’m so glad,” she said, near tears again.

Momo patted Mina’s back gently. “Let’s all get changed.”

* * *

Momo and Sana hadn’t sold the hairpin. “I was afraid that they’d think it was stolen,” Momo explained. “Not a good start for some pilgrims.” So they had run low on funds after buying four sets of clothes and a pair of backpacks—”We’ll switch off,” Momo said when Mina opened her mouth to speak--so they had only bought a little bit of food, a few steamed buns.

As far as Mina was concerned, her steamed bun was the best she’d ever tasted.

“Did you find somewhere to sleep?” Mina asked after she had finished eating.

“Not… somewhere great,” Momo said.

Mina frowned. “What do you mean?”

“We couldn’t tell anyone about you, so we couldn’t really ask,” Sana said. “But Momo thought… we could spend a night in a barn. There’s one close by.”

Mina swallowed. “All right,” she said. “But… we need to hurry and be out by morning. My heat might come in the night.”

Sana gave Mina a gentle hug. “We’ll make it work,” she said. “I promise.”

Teasing a little, Mina asked, “Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise,” Sana said, and linked pinkies with Mina. “Momo, you too.”

In a jumble of fingers, Mina felt a little closer to normal.


	3. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> let's earn that rating (also featuring an unrelated visit from jyp)

The barn was entirely unlocked, so breaking in was a simple matter of opening a door. The animals fussed a little to hear the noise, but when it became clear that no food was coming and that the door was shut again, they settled. And so did Mina, Sana, and Momo: they climbed a ladder into the rafters to find an empty space with a hay flooring.

Mina was given the first watch again--but she was sleepy, and unused to danger, and she was in a comfortable place with a full stomach and drained energy from a building heat. 

She fell asleep.

She woke to an unfamiliar voice. “What is the Princess of Hinomoto doing sleeping in the rafters of my barn?” A man, probably in his forties, stood near the base of the ladder.

Momo and Sana also woke to the sound. Before Mina had even started to think of what to do, Momo was on her feet, holding her sword.

“I don’t mean you any harm. Relax, relax,” said the man, with a hint of command that suggested he was an alpha and a hint of an accent that suggested he was from Goryeoha. 

“Then what do you mean?” Momo asked without lowering her weapon.

The man held his hands up. “I’ll help you, if you’ll put that down. Hinomoto was always kind to me.”

“Mina?” Momo called, without moving.

“Put your weapon aside,” Mina said, still casting sleep from her eyes. Her heat wasn’t quite upon her yet, but she could sense that it would arrive soon. “We need all the help we can get.”

* * *

The man introduced himself as Park Jinyoung--no relation to Park Jihyo, he quickly clarified. He had lived as a traveling minstrel for most of his life before finally settling down in Hinomoto and starting a family. He introduced them to his wife, a beta with kind eyes, and his daughter, a two-year-old who hid behind her mother’s skirts.

Jinyoung confirmed what they already knew: the palace had burned, and the Queen was dead. The warlord responsible knew that Mina had escaped, and was looking for her, but only as a side gesture; there was now an entire nation to rule.

As his wife made okayu, Jinyoung bustled around the house. He produced another pack for Mina to carry, a small pouch of sencha, a set of prayer beads, and some incense. 

“It’s a disgusting practice that the Wajin lords have adopted, killing heirs,” Jinyoung said over breakfast. “Shameful.”

“Thank you for everything,” Mina said. “You have done me a great kindness that I will never be able to repay.”

“As long as you don’t tell anyone I was involved, we’ll call it even,” Jinyoung replied. “I prefer young women to live.” He paused over his spoon. “That reminds me.”

“Yes?” Mina asked.

“You’ll be headed up the mountain, Tenku-san, to get to the first shrine,” he said. “There’s a shrine maiden there, another foreigner like me, but not from Goryeoha. She’s from… Poreumoja.” He said the name of the place slowly, as if he wasn’t sure he remembered it correctly. “She’s a healer’s daughter, and I think she has the Touch. If you tell her I sent you, she might be able to help you.”

“What’s her name?” Sana asked.

“Chu-wi?” Jinyoung said. “I don’t think I pronounced it correctly. But you’ll know her. She’ll be the tallest omega woman you ever saw, and she’s beautiful.”

“Thank you,” Mina said. It wouldn’t do any harm to look, if they were already going there.

“Finish your breakfast, and then be off,” Jinyoung said, as if he was one of Mina’s tutors sending her to the next lesson and not a total stranger who for some reason had briefly opened up his home to a trio of hunted girls.

* * *

Mina’s heat was bearing down on her by the time that they left the house, directed down the road to pretend to be ordinary pilgrims. She knew that Momo and Sana knew. Their hosts had probably known, too, but been too polite to say anything. And of course they couldn’t let them stay, not when Mina was being hunted down. 

Usually, during the two or three days of her heat every three months, Mina stayed curled in her futon. Momo guarded the door, and only Sana and the Queen were allowed to visit her. It was said that the scent of a receptive alpha would calm an omega in heat, and alphas were said to smell like fir trees, so they burned stick after stick of fir incense. Mina could never say if it did any good. Then Sana would read to her: poetry, old love letters between Mina’s parents, novels, crop reports in a pinch.

Mina wanted to cry. Her legs felt weak and wobbly under her, and she wasn’t sure how far she could keep walking. And where would they go?

“You’re crying,” Momo said, and gently wiped a tear from Mina’s cheek. “Is it that bad already?”

“Not yet,” Mina said. “I’m just worried.”

“Here, I know,” Momo said. “We’ll go off the road again and find somewhere to camp, okay?”

“Okay,” Mina said, knowing full well that they should try to make more distance. She wavered on her feet.

“And…”

“And?”

Momo crouched down and pulled the pack off her back. “I’ll carry you. Piggyback. Climb on.”

“I’ll… I’ll get you wet,” Mina said.

“Here,” Sana replied. She was pulling cloth out of her bag: one of the servant kimonos they had worn in their escape. “Put this between you and Momo.”

With a little arranging, Mina was hoisted up onto Momo’s back, and they turned off the road into the woods. 

The further Momo walked, the less aware Mina was of what was happening. She found herself concentrating heavily on not embarrassing herself by grinding her hips against Momo’s back. Her body screamed for release. She bit her lip, trying to bring clarity back to herself, but it only helped a little.

“Mina,” Momo said. “Mina, are you listening? We’re stopping here.” 

“Here,” Mina said, carefully removing herself from Momo’s back before slumping down to sit. 

Sana rested a hand against Mina’s forehead. “It’s really hitting you hard, isn’t it?”

“It’s not good,” Mina said. She forced herself to focus. “I- Mother wanted me to- I-”

“Mina?” Momo asked, turning around.

“Are we safe here?” Mina asked.

“As safe as we’re going to get,” Momo replied.

Mina swallowed. “I need- You know the tradition,” she said. “A crossroads child.”

“Mina,” Sana breathed, and it sounded like her heart was breaking. “You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. I know your mother told you to, and I know that it’s tradition, but you should only have a baby if you want to.”

Mina bit her lip. “Please,” she said. “Please, I want to.”

“Is that your heat talking?” Momo asked.

“Yes, but… but it’s for the best, isn’t it?” Mina said. “They wouldn’t dare to kill an unborn child. They wouldn’t bother to- to do anything to me if I was already pregnant.” She found, to her embarrassment, that she was pressing a hand sharply between her legs. “Please.”

Momo and Sana looked at each other. It was quiet for a long time, except that Mina’s breathing grew more and more strained.

“Who do you want to do it?” Momo asked.

Mina let herself grind against her hand just once, just once to take the edge off. “I trust both of you,” she said. “You can decide.”

Momo and Sana looked at each other again. “I’ll do it,” Sana said. “For you.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Mina gasped. She was sweating. She started fumbling with her clothes. Then she slowed. “Do you want to? You don’t have to. You can say no.”

“I want to do this for you,” Sana said. “Is that enough?”

Was it? Mina’s mind was clouded. She didn’t know. “Sana…”

Momo stepped behind Mina and started to stroke her hair. “Shh. Trust us.”

“I trust you,” Mina said without hesitation.

Then there were hands on her: Momo helping her with her clothes while Sana undressed herself. Then Momo guided Mina to lay down with her head in Momo’s lap, stroking her hair, turning terrified fog into warm cloud.

Sana knelt between Mina’s legs and closed her eyes briefly. Then she opened them, and smiled. “Mina, you’re beautiful.”

Mina tried to smile, but she thought maybe it came out crooked. “Please, Sana,” she whined.

Sana slipped her hand between her thighs, gently rubbing at her clit. It slinked forward and stiffened in her grip. “Last chance,” she said.

“Please, Sana,” Mina begged.

Sana tilted down. She pressed a soft kiss to Mina’s lips, and then pressed her clit into Mina’s slick opening.

Mina moaned. “Yes…”

Sana began to pump, finally providing the friction that Mina had craved. She kissed Mina on the lips again, and then on the cheek, the ear, the throat. Momo continued to stroke Mina’s hair, so gentle.

Mina drowned in pleasure. She felt clumsy, but her hips rose to meet Sana’s, gaining a rhythm that drew her into a trance.

All too soon, though, it was over. Sana jolted over Mina and choked back a cry, then thrusted a few more times, jagged and rough. She slowed, sighed. “Mina…”

“Sana,” Mina replied. “Sana, please…”

Sana sat up and slipped her hand between Mina’s folds, circling Mina’s clit a few times before Mina, too, spasmed with joy.

The glow spread over her body, warmth and security and some ancient part of her brain eager to carry a child, and Mina basked, floated. Momo was still stroking her hair. Sana lay down next to Mina on the ground--not on the ground, one of the ruined kimonos had been laid out, how had Mina missed it?--and traced patterns on Mina’s skin.

Mina had never felt so loved, so safe. So tired. 

She fell asleep.

* * *

“I’m sorry,” Mina said. “I pressured you so much.”

Her heat hadn’t truly left her, but it had receded in the wake of sex and a nap. She felt clear-headed again, and with that clarity came guilt.

“No,” Sana said. “I chose. We chose. Don’t apologize.”

Mina sniffed. “I’m probably going to bear your child.”

“I know,” Sana said. “I knew when we fled the castle.”

Mina sat up straight. “What?”

“When your mother told you. I knew you would do it. And it had to be me or Momo, and so it was going to be me.”

“Sana,” Mina said helplessly. “Sana, I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“Thank me when your heat is over,” Sana teased. “But no, it’s all right. Momo’s getting us some water, and we have some bread and you’re going to eat it.”

This felt almost familiar. “But my heat always makes my stomach ache,” Mina complained, slipping into old patterns like a fish slipping into water.

“You need to keep your strength up,” Sana scolded. “If you eat it, I’ll read to you. I don’t have anything good, but Jinyoung gave me a book of sutras.”

“All right,” Mina said. “I’ll hold you to it.” She hesitated a little longer. “Thank you.”

“Thank you for trusting me,” Sana said, and that was that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the first sex scene i have ever written and i went for nonstandard anatomy
> 
> sorry it was probably only minimally sexy


	4. Green

Mina’s heat lasted two more days, and she and Sana made the most of the particularly fertile time. It felt _good_ to let go of all the prohibitions surrounding her heat: She didn’t have to just ignore it when desire crackled through her. She could just have sex. She didn’t have to sit in a closed room with the smell of slick hanging heavy on the air, because the fresh air of the forest kept things aired out. It was still relaxing to have Sana read to her, but it wasn’t a desperate grasp for sanity. And Momo could be with them, instead of sitting outside the door.

Mina didn’t know how Sana and Momo had decided that Sana would be the one to have sex with her, but they stood firm in their decision. After they had arrived in their little clearing in the forest, Momo had gone no further than letting Mina’s head rest in her lap or stroking her hair.

They rationed their food. Mina suspected that she was being given a bigger portion than Momo or Sana were taking for themselves, but the one time she tried to bring it up, she was shushed down after only a sentence, and she didn’t try to broach the topic again.

Finally, though, Mina was normal again, or at least normal enough to move around, so it was time to go. Beyond time, really. There wasn’t really anything to pack, this time, so they simply got up and walked back to the road.

“Are you sure you’re okay with me bearing your child?” Mina asked softly.

Sana laughed. “I don’t think that matters after that heat,” she said. “I think I’m going to sire your first child whether or not I’m comfortable with it.” She looked over at Mina before adding, “Yes, I’m okay with it. I’m honored that you trusted me with something like this.”

Mina was troubled and would be the first to admit it, but she nodded. “Thank you,” she said. She straightened her clothing a little--her body was still a little sensitive, and having her undergarments rub against her skin was distracting and uncomfortable. “Let’s move forward.”

“Really, it might be to our advantage that we’ve stayed so long,” Momo said, stretching out her arms. “They’re probably looking a lot further up the roads than here.”

“Maybe,” Sana said. “But they probably have horses, so they could go up and down the roads pretty fast.”

Mina sighed wistfully. “It would be nice to have a horse,” she said.

“It would take a lot of care, and even more food,” Momo pointed out. “We’re running low ourselves.” By which she meant that they were out of food again, but Mina didn’t bother to challenge her on the euphemism. 

“Besides, we couldn’t all ride one horse,” Sana said. “We’re best off on foot.”

Which was true, but Mina hated it. She had never really been physically active this much before. It had only been an hour, but her feet already hurt. This was going to be a long day, and every day after was going to be a long day, too.

And she was going to be pregnant for every single long day.

* * *

The unmistakable sound of hoofbeats sounded down the road.

Mina looked at Momo and Sana. Momo tugged her to the side of the road, but there was no time to hide before the horse and its rider trotted into view.

To Mina’s private terror, although she schooled her face into neutrality, the rider was wearing the bright green of the Wajin.

“Hail,” called the rider, casual as if she knew them. “Where are you going?”

“We’re pilgrims,” Mina answered, clasping her hands behind her back to hide how they were shaking. “We’re headed up Tenku Mountain to get to the shrine.”

The alpha stared down at them. “In the middle of a war?”

“I heard the war was over,” Mina answered, trying for demure, trying not to let her voice waver.

“Hinomoto lost, yeah,” the alpha said. “Lot of cleaning up to do afterward, though.” She hopped down from her horse in a single rapid motion. “A princess is missing. Anyone tell you that?”

“No,” Mina said, involuntarily backing up a step. 

“An omega girl, they said. Early twenties. Shows her gums when she smiles.” The alpha reached for her sword. “Wanna smile for me?”

“No,” Momo said, “she doesn’t.” She pulled her sword from its sheath at her side. “Move along and no one has to get hurt.”

The alpha laughed. “And miss out on the reward for her head? I’d be a fool.” She drew her sword the rest of the way. “Give her to me and _you_ won’t have to get hurt.”

The alpha dashed toward Mina, but Momo was faster and closer, deflecting the sword. “Get away from her!”

Without replying, the alpha surged forward, and the fight truly began.

Momo loved to dance, and she fought with a sword the way that she danced: spinning, dodging, striking, all to a rhythm that only she could hear. The alpha was almost a full head taller than she was, but she had trained against taller opponents.

As if time had slowed, Momo’s sword streaked across the alpha’s throat, severing the veins. Blood poured from the wound, and the alpha collapsed to the ground, dead.

Momo froze in place, sword still raised. She took a step back, then another. “I just killed her,” she said. “We were just talking to her, and now she’s dead. I just killed her.”

Sana draped an arm over Momo’s shoulder. “You protected Mina. You protected all of us.”

Momo stared forward. “I killed a person,” she said.

“She was going to kill us,” Sana said. “You did the only thing you could do.”

Momo didn’t drop her sword. Mina knew that this was at least partially because she had been trained never to do so, that it was disrespectful to the sword. But Momo lowered her arm and her grip slackened a little.

Mina stepped in front of Momo, careful, and bowed low. “You saved our lives,” she said. “You saved _my_ life. I owe you a deep debt of gratitude.”

Momo pressed her sword into Sana’s hands, pushed past Mina, and threw up at the side of the road. 

Mina knew that the bond between herself and Momo was nothing compared to what Momo and Sana had together. She stepped over and gingerly took the sword, still slick with blood, out of Sana’s hands. “Go to her,” she murmured. Sana gave her a grateful look and rushed forward.

This was Mina’s fault. If she hadn’t been with them, Momo wouldn’t have had to kill someone.

It wasn’t the time to feel sorry for herself.

Mina didn’t know how to clean a sword, though, so she stood at the side of the road, awkwardly clinging to the handle and trying desperately to think of something she could do.

Momo straightened after a few moments, though. She set her shoulders back and walked back to Mina, holding a hand out. Mina gingerly returned the sword. Momo produced a cloth from somewhere in her clothes, kneeled down on the ground, and began to wipe down the blade.

“Mina,” Sana called, standing next to the body.

Mina walked over, feeling a sort of dread in her stomach.

“Mina,” Sana said. “We need to move the body off the road.”

Mina took a deep breath. Sana was right, as usual. She didn’t want to touch a corpse, didn’t want to disrespect the dead by dragging the body into the woods, but it was necessary. And she shouldn’t let Momo be the only one getting her hands dirty.

Mina and Sana each took a leg of the dead alpha. Slowly, they pulled her away from the middle of the road. Blood smeared against the ground. Would they really be able to hide the fact that a death happened here?

Eventually, a few steps into the underbrush, they dropped the alpha’s legs. Mina, with nothing left to do, crouched down and whispered a prayer, then covered the alpha’s face with her handkerchief. 

When Mina returned to the road, Sana had pulled another one of the ruined servants’ kimonos out of her pack. She draped it over the blood, then rubbed it over, adhering much of the bloody mud to the fabric. It looked more like a mud puddle than a pool of blood when she was finished, and she threw the ruined kimono into the woods.

Mina privately apologized to any forest god that might be around for polluting the area like this.

Then, suddenly, something occurred to her. 

Impossibly, the horse still stood in the road, clearly confused, but for some reason it hadn’t bolted.

Mina carefully, gently, with all the grace she possessed, walked up to the horse. She didn’t have a lot of experience with them, but she knew a little, through reading: that they were easily frightened creatures, that they could kick you hard enough to kill if you cornered them. But the horse had saddlebags. There would be supplies. 

She had learned something, a few minutes ago. She would have to be a little harder, if she wanted to live. A little harder, and a little braver.

“Hey,” Mina said to the horse, low and calm. “I bet those bags are uncomfortable. Do you want me to get them off you?”

The horse didn’t understand, clearly, but it also didn’t move.

“That’s right,” Mina said. “You’re a good horse.” She concentrated on keeping her voice as warm and soothing as she could. The saddlebags looked like they were being held on by the saddle. The saddle, in turn, was strapped under the horse’s chest.

“Mina,” Momo called in a warning tone. Sana shushed her. 

Mina put a hand against the horse, gentle as she could. “You’re a good horse, aren’t you?” she said, and carefully but decisively bent down to get to the strap. Her pulse throbbed through her entire body. “You’re such a good horse.” She kept up the stream of gentle nonsense as she opened the buckle.

“There we are,” Mina said, and got back up. “Now let’s get this off you, huh?”

“Here, let me help,” Sana said, approaching just as carefully. 

Mina kept murmuring reassuring nonsense to the horse as they lifted the saddle, then the saddlebags. They backed away from the horse with care and walked to Momo.

Momo had finally sheathed her sword. She took one of the two saddlebags from Mina before Mina could argue, then shepherded them past the side of the road to look through their spoils without being seen.

To a trio of fugitives with almost nothing, this was an amazing windfall. There was food, travel rations that wouldn’t spoil, that would last them four or five days if they kept rationing. There was an extra waterskin, so Momo wouldn’t have to go for water as often. There was a blanket and mat: equipment to sleep in the wilds. To Mina’s private joy, there were clean socks. 

And best of all, there was money. Sana sifted rapidly through the coins, counting in her head, and smiled. “This is good,” she said, threading the coins back onto their cord. “This will help us, the next time we reach a town.”

Mina considered their new equipment. “This is going to be difficult to carry,” she said. “We don’t have a horse.” It went without speaking that they wouldn't be able to take the alpha's horse with them.

“Yeah, but there’s three of us,” Momo said, folding the blanket. “We’ll manage it.”

“I hope so,” Mina said. “We’re about to climb a mountain.”


	5. Tzuyu

It took three days of climbing to reach the top of Tenku Mountain. Three days that Mina spent with blistered feet, chafed shoulders from a too-heavy pack, and a careful refusal to whine about it. They rationed food, which was unpleasant, and water, which was difficult. This had seemed like a good plan when Sana and Momo told her about it, but as they spent more and more time getting into character, it seemed more and more daunting. Would they really be able to get out of Hinomoto this way?

At least after the first rider, there had been no one on the road investigating them. The only other person they saw, in fact, was a beta man with a covered cart. He was going the other way and simply nodded at them and continued down the mountain.

Eventually, though, they came to the shrine at the top of the mountain. 

They were the only lay people at the shrine; everyone else was dressed in its uniform. Still, they knew what to do: wash their hands and mouth at the fountain, then proceed down the path to leave an offering. Mina winced a little as she tossed the smallest coin that she had into the offering box. A tiny offering like that would have been an insult in her old life, but with no reliable source of income left, any offering was a risk.

She assumed a position of prayer, but there was so much going on in her mind that she didn’t really pray.

Still, after a few moments, she bowed deeply and stepped away from the offering box.

A tall girl--a tall omega girl, certainly the tallest omega that Mina had ever seen--approached them. She wore the red hakama that indicated a shrine maiden, and her expression was difficult to interpret. “Welcome,” she said, in calm but accented Hinomotan, and bowed.

“Thank you,” Mina replied, and bowed politely to the newcomer. “Excuse me, but- a man down the mountain, Park Jinyoung, he said when we got here we should ask Chu-wi for help-”

“Tzuyu,” the omega corrected. “My name is Chou Tzuyu.”

“Chou Tzuyu,” Mina repeated. There was something foreign in the syllables, something that didn’t quite sit in her mouth right even after learning Goryeohan, but she did her best to mimic them. “I’m- I’m Mina,” she said, deciding to tell the truth, “and with me are Momo and Sana.”

“You can call me Tzuyu,” the girl said. “You are pilgrims? I will share a meal with you.”

Mina glanced at Sana and Momo. “We would be honored.”

* * *

The shrine had food. It had, Tzuyu assured them, a lot of food, as she brought them each a second bowl of miso. Mina found herself near tears from a combination of the joy of a full stomach and the cold knowledge it was not going to happen again anytime soon.

Tzuyu’s arm brushed against Mina’s while they ate, and Tzuyu tensed.

“Tzuyu?” Sana asked.

Tzuyu bit her lip. “It is nothing,” she said. Those were, in fact, the only words that she said after serving them, although Mina, Momo, and Sana were too busy eating to say much either.

After dinner, Tzuyu served them matcha and slices of yokan. She used the traditional tools to make matcha competently, but it was clear that she had never been trained in the ways of the tea ceremony. Still, Mina wasn’t about to complain. 

It felt almost like a memory of a brighter day.

Still, it couldn’t last. Tzuyu took a sip of tea, then said, “I owe Park Jinyoung a debt beyond repayment. If he wants me to help you, I will. So please tell me what I can do.”

“Do you know who we are?” Momo asked cautiously.

“No,” Tzuyu said. She drew a deep breath. “I have… a gift,” she continued. “Your people call it the Touch. So I know a few things about… Mina.” She paused. “She’s afraid, even in a shrine. She hasn’t been eating enough. And… she is pregnant.”

Mina looked at the others, but when they didn’t step in, she took charge. “Those things are true,” she said. “We’re… I’m… being hunted. I’ll be captured if the wrong person sees my face. We’re pretending to be pilgrims.”

Tzuyu nodded. “Is it because of the Wajin victory? You will not be the only fugitives on the roads.” She paused. “Perhaps it is better that I do not know.”

“We’re going to Goryeoha,” Mina continued. “Hanseong. We’ll take the pilgrimage route to Hakata, book passage across the sea, and then travel as long as it takes.”

“Do you have anyone waiting for you in Hanseong?” Tzuyu asked.

“Not exactly,” Mina admitted. 

Tzuyu considered. “It would be best for me if I left the Wajin behind, too, but I will not wander Hinomoto with you. Still… it will take you five weeks to reach Hakata if you follow the pilgrim’s path without stopping. And you must stop, for food and money to book passage to Goryeoha.” She seemed to consider. “I will meet you in Hakata in two months. I will have some of the money.”

“Tzuyu-” 

“I owe Park Jinyoung a deep debt,” Tzuyu replied. “Please do not ask me about it.” She smiled, but for the first time, Mina could tell there was something fierce in this woman. “I will allow you to stay the night, if you wish.”

* * *

Tzuyu was able to dig out a spare futon for Mina, Momo, and Sana to share. They had to curl up very close to each other, and Mina was a little too warm because she still had to separate Momo and Sana, but it was worth it to lay on something soft after a week of rough surfaces. And Mina felt confident they were safe there in the tiny residence next to the shrine.

And in the morning, Tzuyu fed them well again. She didn’t sit at the table with them, assuring them that she would eat later, and instead made onigiri in some kind of wooden press for them to take with them. 

Finally, they walked together to the front of the shrine--but Tzuyu wasn’t done giving them gifts.

“These are standard things we offer pilgrims who do not have them,” Tzuyu insisted, opening a shed to retrieve a set of booklets. “You stamp each page, so you can remember where you have been.” She placed one into each of their hands, then reached back into the shed. “And these are really just walking sticks,” Tzuyu said, “but they are said to ward off evil. Wash their feet at the end of the day, bring them inside if you go, and do not let them touch a bridge. They will take care of you if you take care of them.” Another pause, then she pulled out a sheet of paper. “And this is a map. Make sure you do not skip any sites.”

“You can’t be doing this just because you owe someone else a debt,” Momo insisted.

Tzuyu smiled. “I have reason to support a pregnant person without a home,” she said. “Here. Let me stamp your books.”

“Thank you,” Mina said, and bowed deeply. “You’ve done so much for us, and you’re going to do so much more. Thank you.”

“I will meet you in Hakata,” Tzuyu said. “See you soon.”

* * *

It was nice to have a map, one that clearly marked out their route. It was easier to walk with the walking stick taking up some of the weight, too. With all the bells and whistles of pilgrims, they really looked the part, or at least Mina thought so. She felt safer like this.

“We might be able to ask for alms,” Sana said. Walking down the mountain was much more pleasant than the journey up had been, and everyone was in brighter spirits. “My dad liked to give soup to hermits when they came down from the mountains.”

“Maybe,” Mina said. She had set aside her pride when it became evident that it would do her no good, but it felt a little wrong to beg. Didn’t someone else need that sort of thing more than she did?

She reminded herself that she was homeless, and, as Tzuyu had confirmed, pregnant. She was exactly the kind of person who deserved alms. But…

“While I’m still… not showing, I’d rather work,” Mina said. 

“Me too,” Momo said. 

“That’s fine,” Sana said. “I just wanted to make sure we were thinking about all of our options.”

“We should get a little further away from h-- from the capital first,” Mina said. 

“We can keep going on our money a little longer,” Sana said. “If that’s what you want to do.”

“You don’t like it,” Momo said.

“I think we should save every coin we can,” Sana said. “Even if it means begging for food sometimes. I know that Tzuyu promised she’d give us some of the fare, but we still have to come up with most of it.”

“How much will it cost, do you think?” Mina asked. “And what will we do if we have extra? Our money’s going to be no good in Goryeoha.”

“The sailors can probably show us how to exchange it,” Momo said. “Hey. Mina. You’re shaking.”

Mina blinked and instinctively stopped moving. “Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why.”

“It’s okay if you’re scared,” Sana said. “I’m scared too.”

Mina didn’t answer. She stared down the trail ahead of her. They’d reach a small temple at the foot of the mountain, in two days. If the monks at the temple let them stay the night, that would mean it’s only one night roughing it before a real futon to sleep on, right?

They had to keep going. They had to keep going, or all of this would be a waste. Momo and Sana were doing this for her. So she had to concentrate on the road ahead.

“You’re shaking again, Mina,” Momo said, and draped an arm around her. “Are you thinking too hard again?”

Mina had never been raised to rule. Oh, she had her two loyal servants, but she was never supposed to inherit the throne. It went to the highest-ranking alpha in the family. That would be her cousin now, if she was still alive. Mina wasn’t meant to lead people. She was meant to give quiet advice in the back rooms, if asked, and to run the household, but that was different from this. This thing where Momo and Sana looked to her for everything.

“You’re thinking too hard again,” Momo concluded, and gently thumped Mina on the head. “Stop panicking. We’re here for you.”

“Why?” Mina asked. “Why are you here? Is it because my mother asked you to go with me? Is it because you think you’ll get a position in Park Jihyo’s court if-”

“We could never leave you,” Sana said. “That’s why. We care about you. We couldn’t leave you.”

Tentatively, Mina asked, “If I ordered you to leave, would you go?”

“Nope,” Momo said. “You’re stuck with us.”

For some reason, that was reassuring. 

“Let’s keep going,” Sana said. “Walking we do today is walking that we don’t have to do tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Mina said. She pulled away from Momo, sighing internally, and let Sana lead her down the road.


End file.
